diff --git a/cpp/src/neighbors/detail/nn_descent.cuh b/cpp/src/neighbors/detail/nn_descent.cuh
index ad9ea2e573..c400bec3a2 100644
--- a/cpp/src/neighbors/detail/nn_descent.cuh
+++ b/cpp/src/neighbors/detail/nn_descent.cuh
@@ -2751,8 +2751,6 @@ void GNND<Data_t, Index_t>::build(Data_t* data,
     raft::copy(res, d_list_sizes_old_.view(), graph_.h_list_sizes_old.view());
     raft::resource::sync_stream(res);
 
-    std::thread update_and_sample_thread(update_and_sample, it);
-
     RAFT_LOG_DEBUG("# GNND iteration: %lu / %lu", it + 1, build_config_.max_iterations);
 
     // Reuse dists_buffer_ to save GPU memory. graph_buffer_ cannot be reused, because it
@@ -2786,7 +2784,8 @@ void GNND<Data_t, Index_t>::build(Data_t* data,
       THROW("NN_DESCENT cannot be run for __CUDA_ARCH__ < 700");
     }
 
-    update_and_sample_thread.join();
+    // Overlaps with the device work enqueued above, which uses disjoint buffers.
+    update_and_sample(it > 0);
 
     if (update_counter_ == -1) { break; }
     raft::copy(res, graph_host_buffer_.view(), graph_buffer_.view());
@@ -2897,7 +2896,6 @@ void GNND<Data_t, Index_t>::build(
     raft::copy(res, d_list_sizes_old_.view(), graph_.h_list_sizes_old.view());
     raft::resource::sync_stream(res);
 
-    std::thread update_and_sample_thread(update_and_sample, it);
     RAFT_LOG_DEBUG("# GNND iteration: %lu / %lu", it + 1, build_config_.max_iterations);
 
     static_assert(DEGREE_ON_DEVICE * sizeof(*(dists_buffer_.data_handle())) >=
@@ -2914,7 +2912,8 @@ void GNND<Data_t, Index_t>::build(
                       stream);
 
     local_join(stream, dataset, dist_epilogue);
-    update_and_sample_thread.join();
+    // Overlaps with the device work enqueued above, which uses disjoint buffers.
+    update_and_sample(it > 0);
     if (update_counter_ == -1) { break; }
     raft::copy(res, graph_host_buffer_.view(), graph_buffer_.view());
     raft::copy(res, dists_host_buffer_.view(), dists_buffer_.view());